RESERVATION IN INDIA: AN OVERVIEW

Reservation In India

·        ” Reservation” in India means an affirmative action through which a proportion of seats are reserved in the public sector units, Union / State civil Services, Union/State governments departments, and in all public/private educational institutions (except in religious/linguistic minority educational institutions).

·        Reservation is provided to the socially and educationally backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes to have their ample representation in services and institutions.

·        SC’s & ST’s enjoy the reservation provision in Union & State legislatures.

·        Caste is the predominant factor used for reservation in India. The whole group to whom the benefits of reservation are available in India is collectively known as backward class. This backward class has 3 sub categories.

1.   Scheduled Castes

2.   Scheduled Tribes & other

3.   Backward classes

Schedules Castes & Scheduled Tribes

·        SCs & STs are groups of Indian Population explicitly recognized by the Indian Constitution. But the constitution does not contain a definition of SCs & STs.

·        In the period of British rule in India, this group was collectively referred as “Depressed Classes”.

·        The constitution empowers the President of India to draw up a list of Scheduled Castes as well as Scheduled Tribes in each state of India in consultation with the concerned Governors. These lists may be revised by Parliament (Art.341,342)

·        As per the census 2001, SCs & STs collectively constitute nearly 24.56% of the total population of India.

·        Scheduled Castes (also known as Dalits) constitute over16% & Scheduled Tribes (referred as Adivasis) constitute over 8% of India’s population.

Other Backward Caste (OBCs)

·        The constitution of India also contains provision for Backward classes other than SCs & STs.

·        Article 340 makes it obligatory for the Government to promote the welfare of OBCs and empowers the President to appoint a commission to investigate the conditions of Backward classes.

·        Kalelkar commission (report 1955) and Mandal Commission (report 1980) were appointed under Art.340

·        The Kalelkar Report identified 2399 backward castes and Mandal Report estimated the proportion of OBC’s population in Indian Population at 52%.

·        National Sample survey put this figure at 32%. So neither the definition nor the proportion of other backward classes is available.

Purpose of Reservation:

·        The primary purpose of reservation is upliftment of the depressed classes and increasing social diversity in campuses and work places.

·        Those identifiable groups which are under represented in comparison to their proportion in population are provided an opportunity to have a seat in services or institution through reservation.

·        Although there are many criteria for judging under representation, such as gender, domicile and income etc, caste is the most used criterion.

·        The underlying theory is that the under-representation of identifiable groups is a legacy of the Indian Caste system.

·        Thus a cherished purpose of reservation is to incorporate in the main stream, those castes which were denied all opportunities of advancement and remained perpetually downtrodden under caste system.

History of Reservation in India

·       In ancient India, reservation may be said to have existed in form of strict division of labour on caste lines. Bur such type of division was more or less, a negative reservation, prohibiting lower castes to perform higher jobs.

·       In pre-independence modern India, ‘reservation’ was used as a major tactic under the strategy of “Divide and Rule”. The “Communal representation” in legislatures and civil posts laid the tradition of political use of reservation, which seems to be still continuing.

·        The demand for reservation of government job was made as early as 1891 by the natives of Princely State of Travancore. Till 1901, reservations were in force in Kolhapur, Baroda & Mysore.

·        Morley-Minto Reforms, 1909 and Montague-Chelmsford Reforms.1919 provided for communal reservation. The Poona Pact, 1935, reserved electoral constituencies for depressed classes.

·        The constitution of India as framed in 1949, contained a scope for reservation, for next 10 years (which has been subsequently extended for every 10 years).

·        In the post-independence era, the reservation issue turned furious when the Mandal commission’s recommendation was implemented in 1990 hiking the quotas from 22.5% to 49.5%.

·        In 1991, Central Government introduced 10% separate reservation for Poor among Forward Castes.

·        In 1955, 77^th constitutional amendment inserted Article 16(4)(A) permitting reservations in ‘Promotion” to SCs & STs.

·        In 1998, Central government conducted a nationwide survey to estimate economic ad educational status of various social groups. The National Sample Survey estimated the proportion of backward population in India at 32%.

·        In 2005, 93^rd constitutional amendment provided the reservations to OBCs, SCs & STs in private educational institutions.

·        In 2006, reservation was provided to OBCs in Central government educational institutes hiking the total quota up to 49.5%.

·        In April 2008, the Supreme Court upheld he governments move for initiating 27% OBC quota in government- funded institutions.

Constitutional Premise

·        Article 338,338-A & 340 of Indian constitution contains explicit provisions, safeguarding the interests of SCs, STs& OBCs.

·        Interestingly, Articles 14, 15 & 16 collectively enshrine the principle of equality and absence of discrimination and they do carry the implicit provisions for reservation.

·        The Article14 is generally stated and ensures that everyone is equal in the eyes of law.

·        Article 15 prohibits the discrimination against any citizen in any matter at the disposal of the state on any of the specified grounds.

·        Article 16 is a safe guard against discrimination in employment under State.

·        Article 15(3) says that nothing shall prevent the state from making any special provision for women and children.

·        Article 15(4) empowers the State to make special provisions for the SCs, STs and socially/educationally backward classes.

·        The Article 16(3) allows the Parliament to provide for a residence or domicile based reservation in services.

·        And then, comes the masterstroke for reservation i.e., Article 16(4). This article expressly allows the state to reserve any post or appointment in favour of any backward class of citizens.

    Present scenario:

·        The most important guidelines regarding the quotas of reservation and other related matters were issued by supreme court in Indra Sawhney Case,1992 (Popularly known as Mandal commission Case),such as

·        The backwardness contemplated in Article 16(4) is mainly social backwardness.

·        The reservation should not exceed 50% appointments of each year.

·        ‘Creamy layer” must not be benefited through reservation.

·        Identification of backward classes is subject to judicial review.

Keeping in mind the above guidelines, Union government maintains a total 49.5% quota of reservation in services and institutions. The break up is as follows.

        Schedule Castes-15%

        Scheduled Tribes -7.5%

        Other Backward castes -27%

In case of States, the picture is not as vivid as at center. Different States provide for reservation differently, settling their local equations. Some states, to satisfy local demands, are exceeding the 50% limit fixed by Supreme Court, like Tamil Nadu (69%) and  Rajasthan(68%).